


Cuddle Vampires Do Exist

by MariaSakura



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:54:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23368024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MariaSakura/pseuds/MariaSakura
Summary: What happens when you throw a supernatural being up in space with four other (thought to be) humans and the being knows about this before any of the events ever happened? What would you get if it were revealed that one of the crew isn’t human? Would the others accept this member or would they be thrown to the metaphorical wolves?Completely AU starting after meeting the Baldes (could be argued since the beginning since supernatural beings, but :shrugs:)
Relationships: Adam/Matt Holt/Shiro, Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	1. Prologue 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know this fandom might be dead, but whatever, I am still invested in it.
> 
> I DO NOT HAVE AN UPDATING SCHEDULE. DO NOT ASK FOR UPDATES.

Many things are said about the supernatural creatures of myth and legends, mainly that they aren’t real and are explained away scientifically. Most of the facts that we know of concerning these things that go bump in the night come from some historical events that were so gruesome that they needed a “rational” explanation for their happenings.

One such event concerns Vlad the Impaler, who was said to be a vampire because he thought that drinking the blood of the people he killed would rejuvenate him and keep him young forever (on top of impaling his enemies’ heads on pikes). With the same mentality, a Hungarian Countess, Elizabeth Bathroy de Ecsed, would exsanguinate virgins and bathe in their blood to stay forever young. Another fact that helped spread these myths about vampires, are people who are allergic to the sun because if you can’t stand the sun’s light surely you mustn’t be human and the sun is a weakness that could very possibly kill you.

A number of other phobias and medical conditions that were later discovered also helped cement the fact that these monsters do not in fact exist.

An example of a creature that was explained away with a mental illness was the werewolf/shifter. Someone who had the disease of lycanthropy would think they were a wolf (or any animal really) on the night of the full moon; they would start to behave like a wolf, walk on all fours and howl at the moon.

Bottom line is; are these facts really one hundred percent accurate? Or were these facts about the myths invented by a whole other community living side by side with the humans and supported by science the more advanced it got? If by chance these facts were invented, how much of these “facts” are actually wrong and why would they purposefully spread as truth? And who would be part of this community and how would they survive living in space?


	2. Prologue 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Letter leading to our current predicament.

_Coven Master Ramos,_

_If you are reading this letter then what our seer has seen has come to pass. Please tell my mother I am still alive and prepare for the inevitable war that will hit Earth soon. At least the supernatural community needs to be prepared and go deeper underground to be able to help the humans when the aliens hit us._

_This letter is also my official declaration of my leaving the coven. Please tell my maker to not worry about me and that I have found my own coven to surround myself. I also have my chalice with me if what our seer has seen is exact._

_Please take care of my family while I am gone,_

_Coven Master Lance McClain_


	3. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Lance woke up and took his eye mask off to see that the lights in the castle were still in night-mode and feeling more tired than he had when he went to sleep the day before. He looked to his left to look at the clock that Pidge had made him when he asked for one in Earth time and saw that it was a little past four in the morning. He groaned and rolled over away from his clock to try and get some more sleep.

“Damn it,” swore the Cuban after what seemed to be an hour of tossing and turning.

The blue paladin sat up and looked at his clock again. He groaned in frustration for what had seemed like an hour had only been ten minutes and he ripped out his earbuds in slight irritation.

“Alright, now I’m too awake to even try going back to bed so I’ll go see the lions and if they want to keep resting I’ll just go train,” he mumbled to himself because it was just too quiet in his room once his earphones were out of his ears.

With that plan established, the tanned boy got up from his bed and almost fell right back onto it as a sudden and harsh dizzy spell hit him, disorienting him completely. He clasped the little stand by his bed where his clock was to keep himself from falling back. He waited for a few seconds and taking a couple of deep breaths to center himself and work through the dizziness. Once it had passed he lightly shook his head and went to the small washroom attached to his room, washed his face and brushed his teeth before going back into the bedroom and getting dressed in comfortable clothes in case he did end up in the training room.

A few minutes later, Lance was heading out of his room into the dimly lit hallway towards the lions’ hangar at a leisurely pace for him. He was smiling slightly, his frustration at not getting anymore sleep almost forgotten as he left the living quarters where the Paladins were rooming and he started whistling softly.

A few dobashes later, Lance arrived in front of the doors to the hangar and knocked three times to signal that he was entering. As he entered, the lights turned on to the dimmest setting and the lions just moved their heads towards the intruding Paladin.

“I was just wondering if you guys would be up to keeping me company until breakfast? I can’t seem to sleep anymore,” smiled Lance sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. “If not then I might go to the training deck and work out my frustrations at being sleep deprived.”

The red lion rumbled at the Cuban before turning his head away to curl back up to sleep beside the blue lion. The other lions let out huffs of amusement before doing the same, leaving Lance to stare at them.

“Fine, I’ll go train myself to exhaustion,” whined Lance. “I just thought I would ask if you wanted to keep me company before I became too sweaty to be pleasant company.”

The blue lion, who had still been staring at their paladin, twisted their tail from where it lay curled up around them and used it to push Lance out of the hangar. At this action, the teen let out a squawk of betrayal and the other lions let out more rumbles of amusement at the human’s reaction. With a final huff directed towards his own lion, the blue paladin left the hangar and headed down the halls deeper into the castle to the training room.

If he were forced to go with anyone from the team he would complain about it incessantly to see if he could get out of training. On the other hand, if he was alone and didn’t have anything else to do and no one was paying him any attention then he would head down to the training deck and train with his full abilities. It was hard to find a time of day where no one was using said room, but in the early hours of the morning it was unlikely to be occupied.

Lance let his mind wander to the people in the castle as he walked, his senses on high alert in case something happened. As he tuned out of his surroundings consciously he began to think about what each member meant to him because they were all his family now, but in all families, everyone has a different role. Shiro, being the oldest of the five humans (four really, but who cares), was always breaking up their fights and helping them however he could and was obviously the dad-friend they all needed so far away from home. Coran was the weird Uncle with the cool stories from when he was younger and Allura was the cool older sister who didn’t put up with any of their shit. Hunk was the super best friend/brother who is awesome in a kitchen and can work miracles. Pidge was the smart younger sibling who could and would talk circles around you for the fun of it. As for Keith, well Lance was unsure of where his positioning was in this strange family, but he knew where he wanted to put him if only he hadn’t started that ridiculous rivalry when they were still at the Garrison.

Lance sighed as he came out of his thoughts. He looked up from the floor where his gaze had been fixed and noticed he was almost at the training deck and he could hear metal clashing on metal as he got nearer. The Cuban frowned as he approached because everyone should still be in bed sleeping at this time, himself included. He slowed his steps as he got nearer to silence his approach and peered into the room through the porthole in the door. As he peered in, he let out a muffled growl of annoyance mixed with worry; Keith was in the room slashing away at the droids from the training drills and not noticing that one had snuck behind him and was about to launch an attack.

“End training sequence,” growled the tanned teen as he stepped in. “Did you even get any sleep last night, Mullet?”

The red paladin whirled around and threw his Blade knife in Lance’s direction in surprise. Lance having expected this at seeing Keith wielding both his bayard and knife ducked just as the throw was finishing.

“Lance,” grumbled the part galra. “What are you doing here and why did you interfere with my training?”

“I couldn’t sleep anymore so I went to see the lions, but they kicked me out of the hangar so I thought I would come train and found you here instead,” said Lance offering most of the truth. “You should be sleeping, you look dead on your feet and you almost got hit by a bot.”

“Yeah well I can’t sleep either,” answered Keith brushing past Lance to get his knife back and ignoring the last remark made by his teammate.

He turned back once it was in his hand again and went to go back into the middle of the room, but Lance stopped him with a firm hand on his shoulder.

“Come on, let’s get out of here and go relax, maybe catch a few more hours of sleep before we’re called for breakfast,” suggested the blue paladin when his crew mate turned towards him. “I can train later and you can come back once you’ve rested and eaten something.”

“I’m too restless to just sit and do nothing, so you can let me train and when I free up the deck I’ll come find you,” countered Keith as he shook his shoulder to dislodge the unwelcomed hand on it.

Lance tightened his grip on his fellow paladin and lost his easy-going expression. Keith turned around, his mouth open to tell Lance to go find someone else to bother but lost his voice when he saw the serious look on the other teen’s face so completely opposite to his usual shit eating grin.

“You’re coming with me to the lounge and we’re going to sit there and relax until breakfast is ready,” muttered the blue paladin through clenched teeth. “The worst that will happen is that we fall asleep in each other’s company and someone has to wake us up. Now do I have to go wake up Allura to lock you out of the deck until later in the day or will you follow me willingly?”

“Fine, lead the way, but know that I currently hate you,” grumbled Keith as they both left the training deck.

“Don’t you always hate me?” teased Lance, his easy-going demeanor coming back to hide the more serious person as they started their way down the dimly-lit hallways of the castle.

“No, I don’t,” admitted the pale teen failing to cover up a yawn. “When you aren’t flirting with everything that moves or disturbing us when we’re busy, I can tolerate you.”

Lance stayed quiet at the raw honesty his fellow paladin was exhibiting and kept walking towards the lounge, a hand still at Keith’s elbow to keep him going and to keep him upright since he seemed to be falling asleep on his feet.

“Like now, you’re quiet and even if you interrupted my training, I like you,” continued Keith his words slightly slurring now that the adrenaline was draining from his system. “You’re pretty good company when you’re not being obnoxious.”

“Alright Samurai, no more confessions or else you might end up telling me you like me more than just as a friend,” huffed Lance a gentle smile on his face as he helped his friend to take a seat on the sofa they had arrived in front of. “Now sit or lay down and get some more rest, Mullet, I’m going to go get breakfast started.”

“Don’t leave me like everyone else has,” mumbled Keith very quietly and already half-asleep that Lance almost missed it, as he settled on his side in a half-curled position.

“I’m not leaving you Keith,” murmured Lance in reassurance as he passed his hand in the other’s hair soothingly. “I’m just going to the kitchen to get breakfast done so that when everyone wakes up we all have delicious food. I promise to come and get you when it’s time to eat querido.”

Keith didn’t reply since sleep had overtaken him almost as soon as he was comfortable and Lance sighed wondering what his companion had been through when living on Earth. The Cuban got up from his crouched position and went to the kitchen where he started to take things out of the cupboard to make something resembling pancakes.

“Thank god Hunk labelled most of these things so we know what they are,” muttered the Blue Paladin as he started mixing ingredients in a large bowl.

The teen hummed as he prepared the first meal of the day for everyone on the castle and he kept an attentive ear out in case Keith woke up. It took a little while to prepare the food for it to be ready to cook because alien ingredients were  _ weird _ thank you very much. As Lance prepared the space stove someone shuffled into the kitchen and sat at the counter. Once he was sure that nothing would catch fire or in any way cause an accident, Lance turned to greet the zombie that had walked in.

“Hey Shiro, sleep well?” asked the Cuban softly while putting a cup of what he wants to believe is coffee in front of the half-asleep paladin.

“Thanks,” breathed the Black Paladin as he took a good gulp of the brew. “That feels nice and yeah, the little sleep I did get was good.”

“Nightmares again huh?” commented Lance and Shiro nodded. “I found Keith on the training deck at four and got him to at least lay down and nap. Speaking of I should go get him so he eats something before starting his training again.”

“Did he tell you why he was there at that time? And why were you with him?” questioned Shiro lifting his grey eyes to meet Lance’s blue ones. “And should you really leave everything as is in here? I wouldn’t be able to help if anything went wrong.”

“It’s alright Shiro, Lance can go get Keith and I’ll finish preparing the food,” said Hunk as he stepped into the kitchen followed by a yawning Pidge. “We’ve done this a couple of times already since we’ve been up here.”

“It should be able to make pancakes similar enough to the ones back home that we could cry,” smiled Lance pointing to the batter in the bowl as he walked towards the door and Hunk took his place in front of the stove. “Pidge any specific pronouns today or just neutral?”

“Neutral,” replied the Green Paladin rubbing the sleep out of their eyes.

“Alright Pidgeon, I’m going to go get our resident Emo and be back for breakfast,” laughed Lance as Pidge let out an undignified squawk at the nickname and he jogged away from the kitchen and back to the lounge.

As Lance entered the lounge room where he had left Keith, he stopped in the doorway. Keith was still sleeping on the couch, but he was whimpering in his sleep and going into a tighter ball. The whimpering became louder and launched the Blue Paladin into action. In a few steps, Lance made it to the side of the couch and he pushed his fingers through Keith’s hair in an effort to calm him before waking him. The soothing motions seemed to do the trick as the whimpering stopped after a few minutes. Lance kept up the ministrations for a little longer in the hopes that Keith would get a little bit more rest.

“C’mon Keith, you need to wake up now,” called Lance softly as he slowly removed his fingers from the other’s hair to shake his shoulder. “Breakfast is ready carino.”

“You stayed,” yawned Keith as he rubbed his eyes, surprising Lance who thought he would wake up ready to fight, especially with the nightmare. “Didn’t think you would.”

“I said I would Mullet and I never go back on my word,” smirked Lance, his eyes staying soft.

The insult seemed to wake Keith up more than the shaking. He sprung up into a sitting position, making Lance freeze and his next teasing comment die in his throat. Keith’s eyes were wide and his complexion had paled more than his normal pasty white. His breath seemed to catch in his chest and his body started shaking.

“Shit,” breathed Lance when the situation added up in his brain. “Keith, you’re having a panic attack. Can you still hear me?”

The Red Paladin nodded his head in response.

“Alright,” started the Blue Paladin. “Can I hold your hands or touch you in any way to help ground you?”

The half-galra just reached blindly towards his fellow paladin until he caught a hand that Lance had raised to facilitate his search.

“Now, I’m going to count our breaths and you’re going to try to match yours with my count or to my movement,” Lance continued once he had a firm physical hold on his friend and brought one of his hands to hold against his chest. “Breathe in, hold for three, breathe out, hold for three and repeat. Okay?”

Keith just nodded, his shaking already starting to calm down.

“Alright, breathe in, one, two, three. Out, one, two, three,” said Lance slowly, matching his breaths to his words to give Keith a chance to come back. They repeated this method five times before Keith even had a semblance of control over his breathing.

“You guys are doing great,” said Shiro in a low voice and approaching slowly from the door. “Now concentrate on your five senses to bring you back completely. Think of five things you can see, four things you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell and one you can taste. Lance, describe what you would use in this situation, if your positions were reversed.”

“I can see the white walls of the lounge in which we are, Keith’s black t-shirt, his red jacket, the white couch and Keith’s horrible mullet,” the three paladins smiled at the last one, “I can touch the really hard floor under my knees, the softness of my clothes, the necklace I got from my family before I left for the Garrison and Keith’s soft hands and how warm they are. I can hear my calm heartbeat, Keith’s almost laugh and Shiro’s soothing breathing. I can smell the cologne Coran wears even here because it reeks and stays in everything and the delicious breakfast Hunk has made us. Finally, I can still taste my toothpaste even though I brushed my teeth at four this morning.”

“That’s great Lance,” praised the Black Paladin. “Keith are you back fully?”

“Yeah,” croaked the teen. “Thanks guys, I don’t know what set me off.”

“It’s fine,” soothed Lance, rubbing his thumb on the back of the hand he was still holding. “And it might have to do with what your sleep addled mind told me before you conked out and when you woke up a few minutes ago. You were really concerned with being left alone and were surprised I was there when you woke.”

“Yeah, that’s most likely it then,” sighed Shiro. “You’ve had more than one panic attack linked to that, Keith. I thought you had resolved the problem with your psychiatrist before I left for Kerberos?”

“I had, but then you had to go and get kidnapped by aliens, leaving me all alone on Earth with one person trying to not break apart and no sign of you still being alive,” snapped Keith, jerking his hands away from Lance, making the latter sigh in disappointment. “I was kicked from the Garrison because I knew it wasn’t pilot error that made the mission fail and you three disappear. I spent the year you were gone in my dad’s shack in the desert all alone with tumbleweeds as company searching for an energy source I couldn’t find until you dropped in for a visit.”

“Alright, take a deep breath kiddo,” instructed Shiro, raising his hands palms towards Keith. “I already apologised for something out of my control, but you need to stay calm. We are both adults now and we can discuss ways for you to take control of your attacks easier.”

“Hey, mullet?” started Lance making the other two jump as they seemed to have forgotten he was there. “I can help you out too you know. I’ve had anxiety and panic attacks for as long as I can remember and no one ever found the reason for them. I have a few techniques I could teach you and I have a limited supply of anxiety meds with me if ever you need some. I’ll only give you some as a last resort though, like if you can’t sleep or function.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” smiled the Black Paladin. “We can always ask Coran if he can make more pills so we don’t run out and have you both out of commission, but later. For now, let’s go eat those delicious pancakes before everyone else eats them.”


	4. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Panicking.

**Chapter 2**

“Man, I’ve gone way too long between feedings again,” Lance muttered to himself as he walked down the blue lighted hallway of the castle-ship right outside the dining room after their delicious breakfast, not noticing the figure following behind him.

“We just ate Lance, you can’t be hungry again,” grumbled an annoyed voice making the Cuban jump and whirl around, growling and teeth flashing in a snarl.

The figure froze at the clear threat and put their hands up in the air, the universal sign of meaning no harm. The tall man stopped himself from actually snarling when he noticed that it wasn’t a threat that had spoken, but rather one of his teammates.

“Dammit Keith, you couldn’t have announced yourself before now,” sighed the tanned teen rubbing his face and visibly relaxing his shoulders.

“What the hell was that?” demanded Keith, taking a step towards his taller companion. “Why don’t you use those instincts during training or better yet during the fights that happen when we happen to encounter Galra and have no choice but to fight hand-to-hand?”

“I think we need to gather everyone for this because I really don’t want to explain six separate times,” replied Lance. “Can you gather everyone in the lions’ hangar? I’ll wait for everyone there.”

The teens stared at each other; one glaring with impatience and the other a resigned look on his face. Neither moved an inch not even blinking before the shorter angry one huffed.

“Fine,” spat Keith, turning to head back in the direction of the lounge where the others had said they would hang around for a bit. “But if you’re not there I’ll get Pidge to go through the castles systems to find you and I will hunt you down.”

“Now that would be interesting,” smirked Lance before heading towards the hangar at an apparently slow and leisurely pace.

“I would and you know it,  _ cargo pilot _ ,” snarled the dark-haired teen.

“I know, which is what would make it even more interesting,” answered Lance a proud smirk clearly in place. “Your Galra instincts against my very sharp and predatory instincts.”

“What does-” started Keith before Lance cut him off sharply.

“Go get the others if you want your questions answered, I only have so much patience when I haven’t fully fed in a while.”

A huff was heard and footsteps headed down the hall in the opposite direction of Lance. A couple of minutes passed before Lance took a deep breath and sprinted to the hanger. The halls were a blur around the Cuban as he made his way to the lions. He arrived a few seconds later in front of the doors that housed their lions and he slowly stepped through after having knocked on the tall doors once. The room was dark as Lance stepped through, but slowly all the lights lit up as he entered deeper into the room. The lights turning on revealed five giant mechanical lions all sitting up at attention in their respective spots and not still huddled in a pile in the middle of the hanger as they were earlier that morning.

The two on the left side, the yellow and green lions' eyes flashed yellow in welcome as did the black lion’s who was the furthest from the door but the first anyone saw as they entered the room. The red lion rumbled but flashed its eyes in welcome as well. Lance bowed his head in greeting to each lion that had greeted him and turned to his right to greet the most important one in his eyes, his lion, the blue one.

“Hey girl, mind if I climb up on your head? I want to see them as they enter, but I don’t want them to see me,” asked the blue paladin quietly.

“Just jump up as you usually do dummy,” laughed a little girl’s voice from between the paws of the lion Lance had stopped at.

“You never bothered to ask before, so why ask now?” grumbled a red lion walking towards the trio.

“You guys are connected to us, you know what just happened,” answered the paladin as he backed up and took a running jump towards the top of his lion’s head. “And I can’t keep it hidden much longer, I need to feed today or else I’ll be out of commission for a while.”

“You humans and your complicated emotions and situations,” muttered a small green lion who just appeared curled up near Lance’s landing spot.

“Yeah well, does that really apply to me?” countered Lance, a little bit of humour piercing through his slightly glum mood.

“Are you sure you wanna do this cub?” asked a golden lion walking up to the small curled up one and sitting beside it.

“It’s only going to make things that much simpler for everyone,” said Lance his voice wavering slightly.

“Who are you trying to convince? Us or yourself?” questioned the green lion stretching out.

“Leave the cub alone,” admonished a calm mature voice. “He’s nervous enough as it is, he doesn’t need you guys making it harder.”

“Thanks Mama Black,” smiled the Cuban as a Black lion marched out of the shadows.

“What will you tell them? Surely you can’t tell them the truth?” interrogated the little girl jumping in place making her blue dress puff up with every downward movement and with a worried look on her face.

“I don’t know Marianna. I want to tell them the truth, but I don’t know. The way Allura treated Keith after it came out that he was part Galra scares me. Will the humans react that way when they discover that vampires really exist?” rambled Lance, starting to pace as his voice got higher and faster as he spoke. “Will they even believe me? Will Pidge and Hunk want to dissect me to find out everything that makes me and other vamps tick? Will Coran want to join in on that fun? Will Allura even want to keep me in the castle? Will-”

“Cub, stop,” ordered with a growl the darkest lion interrupting the tirade. “They cannot do any of those things because we will stop them from doing so.”

“But how will you prevent them from thinking or doing things to upset me? They are still your Paladins. I am replaceable. Allura or Coran would make better paladins than me,” continued Lance, his breathing getting faster as he started to panic.

“You are not replaceable!” yelled Marianna as she launched herself at the vampire who just kept pacing as if she weren’t even clinging to him. “I chose you as my paladin and unless you were to die I would never accept another.”

“They may very well be our paladins, but we can choose if we open for them or not,” added the black lion coming to sit beside Lance and coincidently stopping him from pacing.

Lance just stood in front of the lion staring into her eyes. Being the biggest of the five Voltron lions, Black was equal in height with Lance while sitting on her haunches. Marianna, the blue lion, came up to about Lance’s shoulders in her human form as she hugged him tight to try and comfort him.

“My paladin may be reckless, but he is not heartless,” commented the red lion coming to lean slightly on the distressed man to offer some comfort. “He knows all too well what being rejected by people who are supposed to be family feels like. He also knows what it’s like to be disliked for something you cannot control and the loneliness that comes with living alone, cut off from most of the world.”

“You know Hunk would never do that to you,” claimed the golden lion sitting beside Black. “He knows you and loves you for you. Unless your attitude changes drastically because of what you are, he will still love you.”

“The little one will want to study you, but would never harm you,” added the smallest lion. “They respect you too much to take your freedom away from you.”

Lance smiled at each one softly as tears made their way down his cheeks and he hugged the girl back tightly.

“Thanks guys,” smiled Lance. “Now I know this is insensitive of me because we’ve been talking and meeting like this for a while now, but what can I call each of you because referring to you by your colors is starting to get really old.”

“I like the name you gave me, so I’m going to keep it,” Marianna smiled widely from within Lance’s arms.

“I seem to have gained the name Mama from not only you, but these four pests as well even if we are technically the same age,” growled Mama playfully. “I suppose you can keep calling me Mama if it comforts you a little.”

“I like my color and being named by it so keep calling me Red and we’ll be good.”

“Hunk calls me Laki, so if you like you can refer to me by that as well,” shrugged Laki.

“I want to be called Jo because it’s pretty neutral, so no one will know if I’m female or male,” stated Jo.

“Alright, so Green is Jo, Yellow is Laki, Red is, well, Red, Black is Mama and Blue is Marianna,” recited the Cuban boy.

Marianna nodded excitedly and the others all grumbled in agreement since they were still in their lion forms.

“So, what’s the plan for confronting the other passengers of the castle?” asked Jo, ever the practical one.

“No time, I hear them coming,” whispered Lance as if the others would hear him if he spoke too loudly. “Will you guys go back to your actual physical forms or stay with me like this?”

“We’ll observe first, but know that we’re always with you, young paladin,” replied Mama. “You are one of our cubs, we will protect you from the others if we have to.”

Lance nodded as the doors to the hangar opened and the other four lions let their forms dissolve into mist as the other inhabitants stepped into the room.


	5. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare for a lore dump in the next few chapters guys and then I might start time skipping a bit depending on the events that I need to make everything work and come together.

“So, Keith, why did Lance want to see us all? And in the lion hangar of all places?” asked the short bespectacled person walking down the hall towards the hangar with the six other people in the castle.  
“I asked him a couple of questions and he told me that to get answers I needed to get you guys so he could tell us all at the same time,” replied Keith as the group approached the doors to the hangar. “I want these answers so I got you to the hangar.”  
“What kind of questions did you ask?” questioned the tall ginger man. “I’ve asked him multiple questions and he’s always answered them.”  
“I don’t think we asked him the same kind of questions Coran,” answered the Red Paladin as they arrived right in front of the doors. “Now that I think about it, Lance said he would have to repeat his explanation six times if I didn’t gather you all here. So, Hunk, do you not have any idea what he plans on telling us?”  
“No,” stated Hunk wringing his hands. “There are some things I know he hasn’t told me from when he still lived in Cuba, but he’s my best friend, he’ll tell me when he’s ready.”  
“Are we going in or not? We did have some training planned today,” said the tall dark-haired male with the prosthetic arm.  
Keith nodded and knocked on the doors, they opened to a dark room and not a single sound from within. Lance sat on his lion’s head unmoving and watching as Keith stepped inside first followed by the others. Marianna was sitting beside her paladin a hand on his shoulder in comfort. Together, they watched as the other inhabitants entered the hangar activating the lights in the main part and looked around for the blue paladin. Keith walked to the blue lion and tapped its giant foot to get Lance’s attention if he was in the dark robot. He waited a couple of minutes before repeating the gesture. Marianna giggled silently and Lance just sat frozen still in his spot as he observed Keith get frustrated when no answer came once again.  
“Pidge, you got your computer?” growled Keith turning his back to the robot cat.  
“I brought it as you asked me to. What do you want me to do?” questioned the green paladin as they opened it.  
“I want you to find Lance. He said he would meet us here. He clearly ran, and since I told him I would have you find him so I could hunt him down if he weren’t here, that’s what I’m going to do,” answered the part Galra angrily.  
“You don’t have to do that,” said Lance just loud enough for his voice to carry, but not give away his position. “I’ve been here the whole time.”  
“Then why don’t you come out buddy? You’re the one who said you wanted to tell us something,” tried to reason Hunk.  
“Don’t exactly want to be down there once I’ve told you what I need to,” replied Lance.  
“Down here? Where exactly are you Lance?” asked Allura from beside Shiro.  
“Do you want me to turn on the lights over my head so they can see you?” whispered Marianna moving to sit behind Lance so she was hidden.  
Lance nodded in answer and the lights above and around the blue lion turned on all at once making Keith whirl around and draw his knife and the others blink as they were temporarily blinded. Keith looked around wildly before taking a deep breath and lowering his knife. He looked up and his jaw dropped; there right on the top of the blue lion’s head sat their wayward paladin, feet dangling in the air high above his head giving the impression that the other paladin would jump down and break his neck.  
“Guys, look up to Blue’s head,” whispered Keith in awe.  
Hunk choked on a scream as he looked up and Pidge gasped. Coran just smiled as he looked around at his companions’ reactions because even Allura and Shiro had their jaws on the floor seeing the teen perched up where he was. Coran knew that Lance sometimes hung around the lion hangar and had found him once or twice on his lion’s head.  
“Will you tell us how you got up there, Number 3?” questioned Coran, the only one not in shock.  
“I jumped up,” answered Lance, giving a wary look to the humans as they all approached.  
“Wait, how did you manage to jump that high up? Did you use your jetpack?” fired Pidge.  
“You know you’re not supposed to use your jetpack for things like that Lance,” scolded Shiro softly.  
“I didn’t use my jetpack. It’s still in my room,” countered Lance. “I don’t even have any piece of my armour with me.”  
“It’s true, he was in his regular clothes when I saw him earlier,” corroborated Keith. “And unless he has superspeed, then he didn’t exactly have time to put his armour on or go get his jetpack.”  
Lance flinched when Keith mentioned superspeed because that hit a little too close to home for his current comfort. Marianna, feeling the flinch, leaned into his back to try to comfort him while being careful to remain hidden from the others’ eyesight.  
“I actually would have had plenty of time to go to my room and come back to the hangar before any of you even made it to the hallway,” grumbled Lance. “Almost the only fun part of being a vamp is the speed at which I can go when no one’s around to watch me.”  
“Wait, what? What is this being called a vamp? And how are you one Lance? I thought you were all human until we met the Blade of Marmora,” spouted Allura making the other earthlings freeze.  
Lance jumped where he sat because he thought he wasn’t being loud enough for any of the others to hear him, “How did you hear me from all the way down there? Did you enhance your hearing?”  
“Look in your lap,” smiled Allura kindly and Lance did, finding one of the space mice sitting on its haunches looking up at him with a tilted head. “Now can someone please tell me what a “vamp” is?”  
“It’s the shortened word for a vampire; a being who sustains itself by feeding on the blood of the closest compatible being,” rattled off Pidge, a frown on their face. “But that’s just bull; those stories were based on crazy people who thought that bathing in virgin blood or drinking blood would make them eternally young. There was never any proof that supernatural beings ever existed except as mental illnesses. And if you really are a vampire, how do you feed? You can’t exactly feed off of us. We can’t ever be in a weakened state in case Voltron is needed.”  
“I don’t need blood to sustain myself, at least not at this point in my life,” replied Lance.  
“Then if you are a vampire, what do you need to survive?” questioned Hunk.  
“You never wondered why some days I would just lay myself on your lap and not do anything for hours on end while you did something else, a thing we both know wouldn’t hold my attention for two seconds, when I usually never stop talking or moving?”  
“How did you do that exactly?” asked Keith. “I’ve never seen you not be loud or at least have your presence known when you’re in a room.”  
“As for the moments you are still and demanding affection, we just thought it was because you were a physical person and just needed more contact than the brief hug or quick touches,” added Shiro as confused as the others as to the relevance of Lance cuddling with his friends.  
“I feed off of physical affection, better known as cuddles,” answered the teen smiling softly.  
“When and how were you turned?” questioned Shiro.  
“I was turned accidentally when I was a few months old.”  
“How are you not still a baby then?” demanded Pidge. “If the myths are to be believed then you would be identical to when you were first turned.”  
Lance laughed and jumped down from his perch. At his sudden jump, everyone gasped and Keith braced himself to catch a lanky Lance, but Lance landed perfectly fine on the ground right beside Keith with barely a sound to announce his landing. Lance had lowered his face to the ground and closed his eyes as he landed, relishing the feeling of freefall and the knowledge that he would be fine. He lifted his face and almost fell to his ass laughing. Everyone in the room was staring at him with bugged-out eyes and mouths hanging open and Keith still had his arms out to catch him. Coran was the first out of his shock and smiled happily at seeing the blue paladin having fun even if it was at their expense.  
“Don’t ever do that again in my presence Leandro,” growled Hunk as he stalked forward and pulled his friend upright and straight into a tight embrace. “And I can’t believe you only need cuddles to survive.”  
“Can’t promise that,” giggled Lance. “As for your question Pidgey, those myths were created by the supernatural community. Vampires age, slower than humans, but age nonetheless, until they find their chalice.”  
“Can you start your story from the beginning, please? I find myself very lost in this conversation,” requested Allura as the mouse who had been on Lance scurried back to her as it climbed out of the paladin’s hood.  
“You’re not the only one, Allura, trust me,” mumbled Keith in agreement.  
“If it’s going to be storytime, can we go somewhere more comfortable? Like the lounge? Please?” asked Hunk.  
“Can we stay here?” asked Lance, his voice small. “I just feel more comfortable around the lions. I can go to the lounge and get pillows and things to make this more comfortable if you want. I would be gone for like two minutes and I could make more than one trip.”  
As soon as the last words were out of Lance’s mouth, pillows and blankets dropped from the air over the group’s heads and landed in a heap covering the inhabitants of the castle. Hunk screamed in fright, Keith started waving his arms about in an almost panic, Pidge scrambled to find a way out from under the pile, Shiro, Allura and Coran just took it in stride and started slipping the blankets off of their heads. Meanwhile, Lance just sat down where he was and laughed, because Marianna had sent him images of her and the other lions’ plans.  
Soon enough, all the different pillows and blankets were arranged in a comfortable nest between the blue lion’s front paws. Lance was sitting directly between her paws with his back leaning against her snout since she and the other lions all decided to lay down while the group arranged their nest. Keith was sitting to Lance’s right, closest to his lion with Pidge sitting to Keith’s right, closest to their lion. Hunk was to Lance’s left with Coran, Shiro and Allura directly in front of the blue paladin.


End file.
